Contextualization of voice inputs

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein are example techniques to provide contextual information corresponding to a voice command. An example implementation may involve receiving voice data indicating a voice command, receiving contextual information indicating a characteristic of the voice command, and determining a device operation corresponding to the voice command. Determining the device operation corresponding to the voice command may include identifying, among multiple zones of a media playback system, a zone that corresponds to the characteristic of the voice command, and determining that the voice command corresponds to one or more particular devices that are associated with the identified zone. The example implementation may further involve causing the one or more particular devices to perform the device operation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, and is a continuation of, U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 16/192,126, filed on Nov. 15, 2018, entitled “Contextualization of Voice Inputs,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 16/192,126 claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, and is a continuation of, U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 15/211,689, filed on Jul. 15, 2016, entitled “Contextualization of Voice Inputs,” and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,134,399 on Nov. 20, 2018, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The present application incorporates herein by reference the entire contents of (i) U.S. application Ser. No. 15/098,867, filed Apr. 14, 2016, titled “Default Playback Device Designation”; and (ii) U.S. application Ser. No. 15/131,244, filed Apr. 18, 2016, titled “Metadata exchange involving a networked playback system and a networked microphone system.”

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure is related to consumer goods and, more particularly, to methods, systems, products, features, services, and other elements directed to media playback or some aspect thereof.

BACKGROUND

Options for accessing and listening to digital audio in an out-loud setting were limited until in 2003, when SONOS, Inc. filed for one of its first patent applications, entitled “Method for Synchronizing Audio Playback between Multiple Networked Devices,” and began offering a media playback system for sale in 2005. The Sonos Wireless HiFi System enables people to experience music from many sources via one or more networked playback devices. Through a software control application installed on a smartphone, tablet, or computer, one can play what he or she wants in any room that has a networked playback device. Additionally, using the controller, for example, different songs can be streamed to each room with a playback device, rooms can be grouped together for synchronous playback, or the same song can be heard in all rooms synchronously.

Given the ever growing interest in digital media, there continues to be a need to develop consumer-accessible technologies to further enhance the listening experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features, aspects, and advantages of the presently disclosed technology may be better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:

FIG. 1 shows an example media playback system configuration in which certain embodiments may be practiced;

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of an example playback device;

FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of an example control device;

FIG. 4 shows an example controller interface;

FIG. 5 shows an example plurality of network devices;

FIG. 6 shows a functional block diagram of an example network microphone device;

FIG. 7 shows a technique according to example embodiments.

The drawings are for the purpose of illustrating example embodiments, but it is understood that the inventions are not limited to the arrangements and instrumentality shown in the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I. Overview

Listening to media content out loud can be a social activity that involves family, friends, and guests. Media content may include, for instance, talk radio, books, audio from television, music stored on a local drive, music from media sources (e.g., Pandora® Radio, Spotify®, Slacker®, Radio, Google Play™, iTunes Radio), and other audible material. In a household, for example, people may play music out loud at parties and other social gatherings. In such an environment, people may wish to play the music in one listening zone or multiple listening zones simultaneously, such that the music in each listening zone may be synchronized, without audible echoes or glitches.

Such an experience may be enriched when voice commands are used to control an audio playback device or system, among other devices in a household (e.g., lights). For example, a user may wish to change the audio content, playlist, or listening zone, add a music track to a playlist or playback queue, or change a playback setting (e.g., play, pause, next track, previous track, playback volume, and EQ settings, among others) using various voice commands. Some example audio playback devices or systems may include a microphone to detect such voice commands.

In some cases, listening to media content out loud is an individual experience. For example, an individual may play music out loud for themselves in the morning before work, during a workout, in the evening during dinner, or at other times throughout the day at home or at work. For these individual experiences, the individual may choose to limit the playback of audio content to a single listening zone or area. Such an experience may be enriched when an individual can use a voice command to choose a listening zone, audio content, and playback settings, among other settings.

In some instances, multiple networked microphone devices (NMDs) may be used to control a household. An NMD may be, for example, a SONOS® playback device, server, or system capable of receiving voice inputs via a microphone. Additionally, an NMD may be a device other than a SONOS® playback device, server, or system (e.g., AMAZON® ECHO®, APPLE® IPHONE®) capable of receiving voice inputs via a microphone. U.S. application Ser. No. 15/098,867 entitled, “Default Playback Device Designation,” which is hereby incorporated by reference, provides examples of voice-enabled household architectures.

In such a household in which multiple NMDs are present, contextualizing voice inputs received at a given NMD may further enhance a user's experience. In some examples, voice inputs may be received by one or more NMDs and then processed locally at the NMD or remotely on another device that is connected to the NMD by way of one or more networks. In one example, a single NMD may receive and process a particular voice input (e.g., a particular NMD to which the particular voice input was directed, and/or an NMD possessing the highest fidelity recording of the voice input). In further examples, multiple NMDs may receive and relay the voice inputs for processing. The one or more NMDs that receive and drive the actual voice processing are referred to herein as the “processing NMD(s).” In some instances, no actual processing may need to be performed by a processing NMD itself. Rather, a processing NMD may interact with one or more other devices or servers described herein to drive the voice processing.

In some embodiments, a processing NMD may be an NMD that might not have awareness of the zones within a household. For example, the processing NMD might not be able determine the actual or relative location (e.g., living room, bedroom, corner of a bedroom, etc) that a given voice input or command was recorded. Other NMDs present in the household may record, or otherwise be capable of recording, some aspect of a voice input and sending the recording to the processing NMD. The one or more NMD(s) that are not necessarily processing NMD(s) but that nonetheless are capable of recording some aspect of a voice input are referred to herein as “contextual NMD(s).” As further described herein, contextual NMDs may provide contextual information indicating a characteristic of a voice input that may improve the voice input received by processing NMDs.

In alternative embodiments, a processing NMD may have at least some zone awareness. According to this embodiment, the processing NMD may be a microphone-equipped playback device such as a Sonos® playback device. The processing NMD may be able to determine the actual or relative location of where a voice input or command was recorded. Additionally, the processing NMD may be capable of receiving voice data from contextual NMDs to help further determine and/or refine its conception of the actual or relative location of where a voice input or command was recorded. Example scenarios are further described herein.

Within examples, a processing NMD may receive voice data indicating a voice command. For instance, the processing NMD may receive voice data via a microphone of the processing NMD. In other examples, the processing NMD may receive voice data via a network interface of the processing NMD.

In further examples, the processing NMD may receive contextual information indicating a characteristic of the voice command. Example characteristics of a given voice command may include, among other examples, one or more of: the zone in which the voice command was recorded (e.g., a living room or bedroom), the actual location of where the voice command was received (e.g., a particular corner of the living room), or relative magnitudes of the voice command as perceived by one or more devices or servers, which the processing NMD may then use to infer a relative location.

Contextual information indicating a characteristic of the voice command provides, as one possible benefit, location of a user or a particular device within a household, which may supplement the voice data recorded by a processing NMD. The processing NMD may receive such contextual information via a network interface from any one or a combination of the devices and/or servers described herein.

In some implementations, the processing NMD may determine a device operation corresponding to a given voice command. Determining a device operation may include identifying a playback zone that corresponds to the characteristic of the voice command, and determining that the voice command corresponds to one or more particular devices that are associated with the identified zone. In some embodiments, the processing NMD may independently determine the device operation corresponding to the voice command. Alternatively, any one or a combination of the devices or servers described herein may determine the device operation corresponding to the voice command.

In further implementations, the processing NMD may cause one or more particular devices to perform the device operation. For example, the processing NMD may receive a voice command to play a particular song in the living room. In response, the processing NMD may cause one or more playback devices in the living room to play the particular song. In another example, the processing NMD may receive a voice command to turn the lights on in the kitchen. In response, the processing NMD may cause one or more illumination devices or components to turn on. As more household devices become “smart” (e.g., by incorporating a network interface), possible device operations may expand to control these household devices.

While some examples described herein may refer to functions performed by given actors such as “users” and/or other entities, it should be understood that this is for purposes of explanation only. The claims should not be interpreted to require action by any such example actor unless explicitly required by the language of the claims themselves. It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that this disclosure includes numerous other embodiments. Moreover, the examples described herein may extend to a multitude of embodiments formed by combining the example features in any suitable manner.

II. Example Operating Environment

FIG. 1 shows an example configuration of a media playback system 100 in which one or more embodiments disclosed herein may be practiced or implemented. The media playback system 100 as shown is associated with an example home environment having several rooms and spaces, such as for example, a master bedroom, an office, a dining room, and a living room. As shown in the example of FIG. 1, the media playback system 100 includes playback devices 102-124, control devices 126 and 128, and a wired or wireless network router 130.

Further discussions relating to the different components of the example media playback system 100 and how the different components may interact to provide a user with a media experience may be found in the following sections. While discussions herein may generally refer to the example media playback system 100, technologies described herein are not limited to applications within, among other things, the home environment as shown in FIG. 1. For instance, the technologies described herein may be useful in environments where multi-zone audio may be desired, such as, for example, a commercial setting like a restaurant, mall or airport, a vehicle like a sports utility vehicle (SUV), bus or car, a ship or boat, an airplane, and so on.

a. Example Playback Devices

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of an example playback device 200 that may be configured to be one or more of the playback devices 102-124 of the media playback system 100 of FIG. 1. The playback device 200 may include a processor 202, software components 204, memory 206, audio processing components 208, audio amplifier(s) 210, speaker(s) 212, a network interface 214 including wireless interface(s) 216 and wired interface(s) 218, and microphone(s) 220. In one case, the playback device 200 may not include the speaker(s) 212, but rather a speaker interface for connecting the playback device 200 to external speakers. In another case, the playback device 200 may include neither the speaker(s) 212 nor the audio amplifier(s) 210, but rather an audio interface for connecting the playback device 200 to an external audio amplifier or audio-visual receiver.

In one example, the processor 202 may be a clock-driven computing component configured to process input data according to instructions stored in the memory 206. The memory 206 may be a tangible computer-readable medium configured to store instructions executable by the processor 202. For instance, the memory 206 may be data storage that can be loaded with one or more of the software components 204 executable by the processor 202 to achieve certain functions. In one example, the functions may involve the playback device 200 retrieving audio data from an audio source or another playback device. In another example, the functions may involve the playback device 200 sending audio data to another device or playback device on a network. In yet another example, the functions may involve pairing of the playback device 200 with one or more playback devices to create a multi-channel audio environment.

Certain functions may involve the playback device 200 synchronizing playback of audio content with one or more other playback devices. During synchronous playback, a listener will preferably not be able to perceive time-delay differences between playback of the audio content by the playback device 200 and the one or more other playback devices. U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,395 entitled, “System and method for synchronizing operations among a plurality of independently clocked digital data processing devices,” which is hereby incorporated by reference, provides in more detail some examples for audio playback synchronization among playback devices.

The memory 206 may further be configured to store data associated with the playback device 200, such as one or more zones and/or zone groups the playback device 200 is a part of, audio sources accessible by the playback device 200, or a playback queue that the playback device 200 (or some other playback device) may be associated with. The data may be stored as one or more state variables that are periodically updated and used to describe the state of the playback device 200. The memory 206 may also include the data associated with the state of the other devices of the media system, and shared from time to time among the devices so that one or more of the devices have the most recent data associated with the system. Other embodiments are also possible.

The audio processing components 208 may include one or more digital-to-analog converters (DAC), an audio preprocessing component, an audio enhancement component or a digital signal processor (DSP), and so on. In one embodiment, one or more of the audio processing components 208 may be a subcomponent of the processor 202. In one example, audio content may be processed and/or intentionally altered by the audio processing components 208 to produce audio signals. The produced audio signals may then be provided to the audio amplifier(s) 210 for amplification and playback through speaker(s) 212. Particularly, the audio amplifier(s) 210 may include devices configured to amplify audio signals to a level for driving one or more of the speakers 212. The speaker(s) 212 may include an individual transducer (e.g., a “driver”) or a complete speaker system involving an enclosure with one or more drivers. A particular driver of the speaker(s) 212 may include, for example, a subwoofer (e.g., for low frequencies), a mid-range driver (e.g., for middle frequencies), and/or a tweeter (e.g., for high frequencies). In some cases, each transducer in the one or more speakers 212 may be driven by an individual corresponding audio amplifier of the audio amplifier(s) 210. In addition to producing analog signals for playback by the playback device 200, the audio processing components 208 may be configured to process audio content to be sent to one or more other playback devices for playback.

Audio content to be processed and/or played back by the playback device 200 may be received from an external source, such as via an audio line-in input connection (e.g., an auto-detecting 3.5 mm audio line-in connection) or the network interface 214.

The network interface 214 may be configured to facilitate a data flow between the playback device 200 and one or more other devices on a data network. As such, the playback device 200 may be configured to receive audio content over the data network from one or more other playback devices in communication with the playback device 200, network devices within a local area network, or audio content sources over a wide area network such as the Internet. In one example, the audio content and other signals transmitted and received by the playback device 200 may be transmitted in the form of digital packet data containing an Internet Protocol (IP)-based source address and IP-based destination addresses. In such a case, the network interface 214 may be configured to parse the digital packet data such that the data destined for the playback device 200 is properly received and processed by the playback device 200.

As shown, the network interface 214 may include wireless interface(s) 216 and wired interface(s) 218. The wireless interface(s) 216 may provide network interface functions for the playback device 200 to wirelessly communicate with other devices (e.g., other playback device(s), speaker(s), receiver(s), network device(s), control device(s) within a data network the playback device 200 is associated with) in accordance with a communication protocol (e.g., any wireless standard including IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.15, 4G mobile communication standard, and so on). The wired interface(s) 218 may provide network interface functions for the playback device 200 to communicate over a wired connection with other devices in accordance with a communication protocol (e.g., IEEE 802.3). While the network interface 214 shown in FIG. 2 includes both wireless interface(s) 216 and wired interface(s) 218, the network interface 214 may in some embodiments include only wireless interface(s) or only wired interface(s).

The microphone(s) 220 may be arranged to detect sound in the environment of the playback device 200. For instance, the microphone(s) may be mounted on an exterior wall of a housing of the playback device. The microphone(s) may be any type of microphone now known or later developed such as a condenser microphone, electret condenser microphone, or a dynamic microphone. The microphone(s) may be sensitive to a portion of the frequency range of the speaker(s) 220. One or more of the speaker(s) 220 may operate in reverse as the microphone(s) 220. In some aspects, the playback device 200 might not include the microphone(s) 220.

In one example, the playback device 200 and one other playback device may be paired to play two separate audio components of audio content. For instance, playback device 200 may be configured to play a left channel audio component, while the other playback device may be configured to play a right channel audio component, thereby producing or enhancing a stereo effect of the audio content. The paired playback devices (also referred to as “bonded playback devices”) may further play audio content in synchrony with other playback devices.

In another example, the playback device 200 may be sonically consolidated with one or more other playback devices to form a single, consolidated playback device. A consolidated playback device may be configured to process and reproduce sound differently than an unconsolidated playback device or playback devices that are paired, because a consolidated playback device may have additional speaker drivers through which audio content may be rendered. For instance, if the playback device 200 is a playback device designed to render low frequency range audio content (i.e. a subwoofer), the playback device 200 may be consolidated with a playback device designed to render full frequency range audio content. In such a case, the full frequency range playback device, when consolidated with the low frequency playback device 200, may be configured to render only the mid and high frequency components of audio content, while the low frequency range playback device 200 renders the low frequency component of the audio content. The consolidated playback device may further be paired with a single playback device or yet another consolidated playback device.

By way of illustration, SONOS, Inc. presently offers (or has offered) for sale certain playback devices including a “PLAY:1,” “PLAY:3,” “PLAY:5,” “PLAYBAR,” “CONNECT:AMP,” “CONNECT,” and “SUB.” Any other past, present, and/or future playback devices may additionally or alternatively be used to implement the playback devices of example embodiments disclosed herein. Additionally, it is understood that a playback device is not limited to the example illustrated in FIG. 2 or to the SONOS product offerings. For example, a playback device may include a wired or wireless headphone. In another example, a playback device may include or interact with a docking station for personal mobile media playback devices. In yet another example, a playback device may be integral to another device or component such as a television, a lighting fixture, or some other device for indoor or outdoor use.

b. Example Playback Zone Configurations

Referring back to the media playback system 100 of FIG. 1, the environment may have one or more playback zones, each with one or more playback devices. The media playback system 100 may be established with one or more playback zones, after which one or more zones may be added, or removed to arrive at the example configuration shown in FIG. 1. Each zone may be given a name according to a different room or space such as an office, bathroom, master bedroom, bedroom, kitchen, dining room, living room, and/or balcony. In one case, a single playback zone may include multiple rooms or spaces. In another case, a single room or space may include multiple playback zones.

As shown in FIG. 1, the balcony, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, office, and bedroom zones each have one playback device, while the living room and master bedroom zones each have multiple playback devices. In the living room zone, playback devices 104, 106, 108, and 110 may be configured to play audio content in synchrony as individual playback devices, as one or more bonded playback devices, as one or more consolidated playback devices, or any combination thereof. Similarly, in the case of the master bedroom, playback devices 122 and 124 may be configured to play audio content in synchrony as individual playback devices, as a bonded playback device, or as a consolidated playback device.

In one example, one or more playback zones in the environment of FIG. 1 may each be playing different audio content. For instance, the user may be grilling in the balcony zone and listening to hip hop music being played by the playback device 102 while another user may be preparing food in the kitchen zone and listening to classical music being played by the playback device 114. In another example, a playback zone may play the same audio content in synchrony with another playback zone. For instance, the user may be in the office zone where the playback device 118 is playing the same rock music that is being playing by playback device 102 in the balcony zone. In such a case, playback devices 102 and 118 may be playing the rock music in synchrony such that the user may seamlessly (or at least substantially seamlessly) enjoy the audio content that is being played out-loud while moving between different playback zones. Synchronization among playback zones may be achieved in a manner similar to that of synchronization among playback devices, as described in previously referenced U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,395.

As suggested above, the zone configurations of the media playback system 100 may be dynamically modified, and in some embodiments, the media playback system 100 supports numerous configurations. For instance, if a user physically moves one or more playback devices to or from a zone, the media playback system 100 may be reconfigured to accommodate the change(s). For instance, if the user physically moves the playback device 102 from the balcony zone to the office zone, the office zone may now include both the playback device 118 and the playback device 102. The playback device 102 may be paired or grouped with the office zone and/or renamed if so desired via a control device such as the control devices 126 and 128. On the other hand, if the one or more playback devices are moved to a particular area in the home environment that is not already a playback zone, a new playback zone may be created for the particular area.

Further, different playback zones of the media playback system 100 may be dynamically combined into zone groups or split up into individual playback zones. For instance, the dining room zone and the kitchen zone 114 may be combined into a zone group for a dinner party such that playback devices 112 and 114 may render audio content in synchrony. On the other hand, the living room zone may be split into a television zone including playback device 104, and a listening zone including playback devices 106, 108, and 110, if the user wishes to listen to music in the living room space while another user wishes to watch television.

c. Example Control Devices

FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of an example control device 300 that may be configured to be one or both of the control devices 126 and 128 of the media playback system 100. As shown, the control device 300 may include a processor 302, memory 304, a network interface 306, a user interface 308, microphone(s) 310, and software components 312. In one example, the control device 300 may be a dedicated controller for the media playback system 100. In another example, the control device 300 may be a network device on which media playback system controller application software may be installed, such as for example, an iPhone™, iPad™ or any other smart phone, tablet or network device (e.g., a networked computer such as a PC or Mac™).

The processor 302 may be configured to perform functions relevant to facilitating user access, control, and configuration of the media playback system 100. The memory 304 may be data storage that can be loaded with one or more of the software components executable by the processor 302 to perform those functions. The memory 304 may also be configured to store the media playback system controller application software and other data associated with the media playback system 100 and the user.

In one example, the network interface 306 may be based on an industry standard (e.g., infrared, radio, wired standards including IEEE 802.3, wireless standards including IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.15, 4G mobile communication standard, and so on). The network interface 306 may provide a means for the control device 300 to communicate with other devices in the media playback system 100. In one example, data and information (e.g., such as a state variable) may be communicated between control device 300 and other devices via the network interface 306. For instance, playback zone and zone group configurations in the media playback system 100 may be received by the control device 300 from a playback device or another network device, or transmitted by the control device 300 to another playback device or network device via the network interface 306. In some cases, the other network device may be another control device.

Playback device control commands such as volume control and audio playback control may also be communicated from the control device 300 to a playback device via the network interface 306. As suggested above, changes to configurations of the media playback system 100 may also be performed by a user using the control device 300. The configuration changes may include adding/removing one or more playback devices to/from a zone, adding/removing one or more zones to/from a zone group, forming a bonded or consolidated player, separating one or more playback devices from a bonded or consolidated player, among others. Accordingly, the control device 300 may sometimes be referred to as a controller, whether the control device 300 is a dedicated controller or a network device on which media playback system controller application software is installed.

Control device 300 may include microphone(s) 310. Microphone(s) 310 may be arranged to detect sound in the environment of the control device 300. Microphone(s) 310 may be any type of microphone now known or later developed such as a condenser microphone, electret condenser microphone, or a dynamic microphone. The microphone(s) may be sensitive to a portion of a frequency range. Two or more microphones 310 may be arranged to capture location information of an audio source (e.g., voice, audible sound) and/or to assist in filtering background noise.

The user interface 308 of the control device 300 may be configured to facilitate user access and control of the media playback system 100, by providing a controller interface such as the controller interface 400 shown in FIG. 4. The controller interface 400 includes a playback control region 410, a playback zone region 420, a playback status region 430, a playback queue region 440, and an audio content sources region 450. The user interface 400 as shown is just one example of a user interface that may be provided on a network device such as the control device 300 of FIG. 3 (and/or the control devices 126 and 128 of FIG. 1) and accessed by users to control a media playback system such as the media playback system 100. Other user interfaces of varying formats, styles, and interactive sequences may alternatively be implemented on one or more network devices to provide comparable control access to a media playback system.

The playback control region 410 may include selectable (e.g., by way of touch or by using a cursor) icons to cause playback devices in a selected playback zone or zone group to play or pause, fast forward, rewind, skip to next, skip to previous, enter/exit shuffle mode, enter/exit repeat mode, enter/exit cross fade mode. The playback control region 410 may also include selectable icons to modify equalization settings, and playback volume, among other possibilities.

The playback zone region 420 may include representations of playback zones within the media playback system 100. In some embodiments, the graphical representations of playback zones may be selectable to bring up additional selectable icons to manage or configure the playback zones in the media playback system, such as a creation of bonded zones, creation of zone groups, separation of zone groups, and renaming of zone groups, among other possibilities.

For example, as shown, a “group” icon may be provided within each of the graphical representations of playback zones. The “group” icon provided within a graphical representation of a particular zone may be selectable to bring up options to select one or more other zones in the media playback system to be grouped with the particular zone. Once grouped, playback devices in the zones that have been grouped with the particular zone will be configured to play audio content in synchrony with the playback device(s) in the particular zone. Analogously, a “group” icon may be provided within a graphical representation of a zone group. In this case, the “group” icon may be selectable to bring up options to deselect one or more zones in the zone group to be removed from the zone group. Other interactions and implementations for grouping and ungrouping zones via a user interface such as the user interface 400 are also possible. The representations of playback zones in the playback zone region 420 may be dynamically updated as playback zone or zone group configurations are modified.

The playback status region 430 may include graphical representations of audio content that is presently being played, previously played, or scheduled to play next in the selected playback zone or zone group. The selected playback zone or zone group may be visually distinguished on the user interface, such as within the playback zone region 420 and/or the playback status region 430. The graphical representations may include track title, artist name, album name, album year, track length, and other relevant information that may be useful for the user to know when controlling the media playback system via the user interface 400.

The playback queue region 440 may include graphical representations of audio content in a playback queue associated with the selected playback zone or zone group. In some embodiments, each playback zone or zone group may be associated with a playback queue containing information corresponding to zero or more audio items for playback by the playback zone or zone group. For instance, each audio item in the playback queue may comprise a uniform resource identifier (URI), a uniform resource locator (URL) or some other identifier that may be used by a playback device in the playback zone or zone group to find and/or retrieve the audio item from a local audio content source or a networked audio content source, possibly for playback by the playback device.

In one example, a playlist may be added to a playback queue, in which case information corresponding to each audio item in the playlist may be added to the playback queue. In another example, audio items in a playback queue may be saved as a playlist. In a further example, a playback queue may be empty, or populated but “not in use” when the playback zone or zone group is playing continuously streaming audio content, such as Internet radio that may continue to play until otherwise stopped, rather than discrete audio items that have playback durations. In an alternative embodiment, a playback queue can include Internet radio and/or other streaming audio content items and be “in use” when the playback zone or zone group is playing those items. Other examples are also possible.

When playback zones or zone groups are “grouped” or “ungrouped,” playback queues associated with the affected playback zones or zone groups may be cleared or re-associated. For example, if a first playback zone including a first playback queue is grouped with a second playback zone including a second playback queue, the established zone group may have an associated playback queue that is initially empty, that contains audio items from the first playback queue (such as if the second playback zone was added to the first playback zone), that contains audio items from the second playback queue (such as if the first playback zone was added to the second playback zone), or a combination of audio items from both the first and second playback queues. Subsequently, if the established zone group is ungrouped, the resulting first playback zone may be re-associated with the previous first playback queue, or be associated with a new playback queue that is empty or contains audio items from the playback queue associated with the established zone group before the established zone group was ungrouped. Similarly, the resulting second playback zone may be re-associated with the previous second playback queue, or be associated with a new playback queue that is empty, or contains audio items from the playback queue associated with the established zone group before the established zone group was ungrouped. Other examples are also possible.

Referring back to the user interface 400 of FIG. 4, the graphical representations of audio content in the playback queue region 440 may include track titles, artist names, track lengths, and other relevant information associated with the audio content in the playback queue. In one example, graphical representations of audio content may be selectable to bring up additional selectable icons to manage and/or manipulate the playback queue and/or audio content represented in the playback queue. For instance, a represented audio content may be removed from the playback queue, moved to a different position within the playback queue, or selected to be played immediately, or after any currently playing audio content, among other possibilities. A playback queue associated with a playback zone or zone group may be stored in a memory on one or more playback devices in the playback zone or zone group, on a playback device that is not in the playback zone or zone group, and/or some other designated device.

The audio content sources region 450 may include graphical representations of selectable audio content sources from which audio content may be retrieved and played by the selected playback zone or zone group. Discussions pertaining to audio content sources may be found in the following section.

d. Example Audio Content Sources

As indicated previously, one or more playback devices in a zone or zone group may be configured to retrieve for playback audio content (e.g. according to a corresponding URI or URL for the audio content) from a variety of available audio content sources. In one example, audio content may be retrieved by a playback device directly from a corresponding audio content source (e.g., a line-in connection). In another example, audio content may be provided to a playback device over a network via one or more other playback devices or network devices.

Example audio content sources may include a memory of one or more playback devices in a media playback system such as the media playback system 100 of FIG. 1, local music libraries on one or more network devices (such as a control device, a network-enabled personal computer, or a networked-attached storage (NAS), for example), streaming audio services providing audio content via the Internet (e.g., the cloud), or audio sources connected to the media playback system via a line-in input connection on a playback device or network devise, among other possibilities.

In some embodiments, audio content sources may be regularly added or removed from a media playback system such as the media playback system 100 of FIG. 1. In one example, an indexing of audio items may be performed whenever one or more audio content sources are added, removed or updated. Indexing of audio items may involve scanning for identifiable audio items in all folders/directory shared over a network accessible by playback devices in the media playback system, and generating or updating an audio content database containing metadata (e.g., title, artist, album, track length, among others) and other associated information, such as a URI or URL for each identifiable audio item found. Other examples for managing and maintaining audio content sources may also be possible.

The above discussions relating to playback devices, controller devices, playback zone configurations, and media content sources provide only some examples of operating environments within which functions and methods described below may be implemented. Other operating environments and configurations of media playback systems, playback devices, and network devices not explicitly described herein may also be applicable and suitable for implementation of the functions and methods.

e. Example Plurality of Networked Devices

FIG. 5 shows an example plurality of devices 500 that may be configured to provide an audio playback experience based on voice control. One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the devices shown in FIG. 5 are for illustrative purposes only, and variations including different and/or additional devices may be possible. As shown, the plurality of devices 500 includes computing devices 504, 506, and 508; network microphone devices (NMDs) 512, 514, and 516; playback devices (PBDs) 532, 534, 536, and 538; and a controller device (CR) 522.

Each of the plurality of devices 500 may be network-capable devices that can establish communication with one or more other devices in the plurality of devices according to one or more network protocols, such as NFC, Bluetooth, Ethernet, and IEEE 802.11, among other examples, over one or more types of networks, such as wide area networks (WAN), local area networks (LAN), and personal area networks (PAN), among other possibilities.

As shown, the computing devices 504, 506, and 508 may be part of a cloud network 502. The cloud network 502 may include additional computing devices. In one example, the computing devices 504, 506, and 508 may be different servers. In another example, two or more of the computing devices 504, 506, and 508 may be modules of a single server. Analogously, each of the computing device 504, 506, and 508 may include one or more modules or servers. For ease of illustration purposes herein, each of the computing devices 504, 506, and 508 may be configured to perform particular functions within the cloud network 502. For instance, computing device 508 may be a source of audio content for a streaming music service.

As shown, the computing device 504 may be configured to interface with NMDs 512, 514, and 516 via communication path 542. NMDs 512, 514, and 516 may be components of one or more “Smart Home” systems. In one case, NMDs 512, 514, and 516 may be physically distributed throughout a household, similar to the distribution of devices shown in FIG. 1. In another case, two or more of the NMDs 512, 514, and 516 may be physically positioned within relative close proximity of one another. Communication path 542 may comprise one or more types of networks, such as a WAN including the Internet, LAN, and/or PAN, among other possibilities.

In one example, one or more of the NMDs 512, 514, and 516 may be devices configured primarily for audio detection. In another example, one or more of the NMDs 512, 514, and 516 may be components of devices having various primary utilities. For instance, as discussed above in connection to FIGS. 2 and 3, one or more of NMDs 512, 514, and 516 may be the microphone(s) 220 of playback device 200 or the microphone(s) 310 of network device 300. Further, in some cases, one or more of NMDs 512, 514, and 516 may be the playback device 200 or network device 300. In an example, one or more of NMDs 512, 514, and/or 516 may include multiple microphones arranged in a microphone array.

As shown, the computing device 506 may be configured to interface with CR 522 and PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 via communication path 544. In one example, CR 522 may be a network device such as the network device 200 of FIG. 2. Accordingly, CR 522 may be configured to provide the controller interface 400 of FIG. 4. Similarly, PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may be playback devices such as the playback device 300 of FIG. 3. As such, PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may be physically distributed throughout a household as shown in FIG. 1. For illustration purposes, PBDs 536 and 538 may be part of a bonded zone 530, while PBDs 532 and 534 may be part of their own respective zones. As described above, the PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may be dynamically bonded, grouped, unbonded, and ungrouped. Communication path 544 may comprise one or more types of networks, such as a WAN including the Internet, LAN, and/or PAN, among other possibilities.

In one example, as with NMDs 512, 514, and 516, CR 522 and PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may also be components of one or more “Smart Home” systems. In one case, PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may be distributed throughout the same household as the NMDs 512, 514, and 516. Further, as suggested above, one or more of PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may be one or more of NMDs 512, 514, and 516.

The NMDs 512, 514, and 516 may be part of a local area network, and the communication path 542 may include an access point that links the local area network of the NMDs 512, 514, and 516 to the computing device 504 over a WAN (communication path not shown). Likewise, each of the NMDs 512, 514, and 516 may communicate with each other via such an access point.

Similarly, CR 522 and PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may be part of a local area network and/or a local playback network as discussed in previous sections, and the communication path 544 may include an access point that links the local area network and/or local playback network of CR 522 and PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 to the computing device 506 over a WAN. As such, each of the CR 522 and PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may also communicate with each over such an access point.

In one example, a single access point may include communication paths 542 and 544. In an example, each of the NMDs 512, 514, and 516, CR 522, and PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may access the cloud network 502 via the same access point for a household.

As shown in FIG. 5, each of the NMDs 512, 514, and 516, CR 522, and PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may also directly communicate with one or more of the other devices via communication means 546. Communication means 546 as described herein may involve one or more forms of communication between the devices, according to one or more network protocols, over one or more types of networks, and/or may involve communication via one or more other network devices. For instance, communication means 546 may include one or more of for example, Bluetooth™ (IEEE 802.15), NFC, Wireless direct, and/or Proprietary wireless, among other possibilities.

In one example, CR 522 may communicate with NMD 512 over Bluetooth™, and communicate with PBD 534 over another local area network. In another example, NMD 514 may communicate with CR 522 over another local area network, and communicate with PBD 536 over Bluetooth. In a further example, each of the PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may communicate with each other according to a spanning tree protocol over a local playback network, while each communicating with CR 522 over a local area network, different from the local playback network. Other examples are also possible.

In some cases, communication means between the NMDs 512, 514, and 516, CR 522, and PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538 may change depending on types of communication between the devices, network conditions, and/or latency demands. For instance, communication means 546 may be used when NMD 516 is first introduced to the household with the PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538. In one case, the NMD 516 may transmit identification information corresponding to the NMD 516 to PBD 538 via NFC, and PBD 538 may in response, transmit local area network information to NMD 516 via NFC (or some other form of communication). However, once NMD 516 has been configured within the household, communication means between NMD 516 and PBD 538 may change. For instance, NMD 516 may subsequently communicate with PBD 538 via communication path 542, the cloud network 502, and communication path 544. In another example, the NMDs and PBDs may never communicate via local communications means 546. In a further example, the NMDs and PBDs may communicate primarily via local communications means 546. Other examples are also possible.

In an illustrative example, NMDs 512, 514, and 516 may be configured to receive voice inputs to control PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538. The available control commands may include any media playback system controls previously discussed, such as playback volume control, playback transport controls, music source selection, and grouping, among other possibilities. In one instance, NMD 512 may receive a voice input to control one or more of the PBDs 532, 534, 536, and 538. In response to receiving the voice input, NMD 512 may transmit via communication path 542, the voice input to computing device 504 for processing. In one example, the computing device 504 may convert the voice input to an equivalent text command, and parse the text command to identify a command. Computing device 504 may then subsequently transmit the text command to the computing device 506. In another example, the computing device 504 may convert the voice input to an equivalent text command, and then subsequently transmit the text command to the computing device 506. The computing device 506 may then parse the text command to identify one or more playback commands.

For instance, if the text command is “Play ‘Track 1’ by ‘Artist 1’ from ‘Streaming Service 1’ in ‘Zone 1’,” The computing device 506 may identify (i) a URL for “Track 1” by “Artist 1” available from “Streaming Service 1,” and (ii) at least one playback device in “Zone 1.” In this example, the URL for “Track 1” by “Artist 1” from “Streaming Service 1” may be a URL pointing to computing device 508, and “Zone 1” may be the bonded zone 530. As such, upon identifying the URL and one or both of PBDs 536 and 538, the computing device 506 may transmit via communication path 544 to one or both of PBDs 536 and 538, the identified URL for playback. One or both of PBDs 536 and 538 may responsively retrieve audio content from the computing device 508 according to the received URL, and begin playing “Track 1” by “Artist 1” from “Streaming Service 1.”

One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the above is just one illustrative example, and that other implementations are also possible. In one case, operations performed by one or more of the plurality of devices 500, as described above, may be performed by one or more other devices in the plurality of device 500. For instance, the conversion from voice input to the text command may be alternatively, partially, or wholly performed by another device or devices, such as NMD 512, computing device 506, PBD 536, and/or PBD 538. Analogously, the identification of the URL may be alternatively, partially, or wholly performed by another device or devices, such as NMD 512, computing device 504, PBD 536, and/or PBD 538.

f. Example Network Microphone Device

FIG. 6 shows a function block diagram of an example network microphone device 600 that may be configured to be one or more of NMDs 512, 514, and 516 of FIG. 5. As shown, the network microphone device 600 includes a processor 602, memory 604, a microphone array 606, a network interface 608, a user interface 610, software components 612, and speaker(s) 614. One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other network microphone device configurations and arrangements are also possible. For instance, network microphone devices may alternatively exclude the speaker(s) 614 or have a single microphone instead of microphone array 606.

The processor 602 may include one or more processors and/or controllers, which may take the form of a general or special-purpose processor or controller. For instance, the processing unit 602 may include microprocessors, microcontrollers, application-specific integrated circuits, digital signal processors, and the like. The memory 604 may be data storage that can be loaded with one or more of the software components executable by the processor 602 to perform those functions. Accordingly, memory 604 may comprise one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums, examples of which may include volatile storage mediums such as random access memory, registers, cache, etc. and non-volatile storage mediums such as read-only memory, a hard-disk drive, a solid-state drive, flash memory, and/or an optical-storage device, among other possibilities.

The microphone array 606 may be a plurality of microphones arranged to detect sound in the environment of the network microphone device 600. Microphone array 606 may include any type of microphone now known or later developed such as a condenser microphone, electret condenser microphone, or a dynamic microphone, among other possibilities. In one example, the microphone array may be arranged to detect audio from one or more directions relative to the network microphone device. The microphone array 606 may be sensitive to a portion of a frequency range. In one example, a first subset of the microphone array 606 may be sensitive to a first frequency range, while a second subset of the microphone array may be sensitive to a second frequency range. The microphone array 606 may further be arranged to capture location information of an audio source (e.g., voice, audible sound) and/or to assist in filtering background noise. Notably, in some embodiments the microphone array may consist of only a single microphone, rather than a plurality of microphones.

The network interface 608 may be configured to facilitate wireless and/or wired communication between various network devices, such as, in reference to FIG. 5, CR 522, PBDs 532-538, computing device 504-508 in cloud network 502, and other network microphone devices, among other possibilities. As such, network interface 608 may take any suitable form for carrying out these functions, examples of which may include an Ethernet interface, a serial bus interface (e.g., FireWire, USB 2.0, etc.), a chipset and antenna adapted to facilitate wireless communication, and/or any other interface that provides for wired and/or wireless communication. In one example, the network interface 608 may be based on an industry standard (e.g., infrared, radio, wired standards including IEEE 802.3, wireless standards including IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.15, 4G mobile communication standard, and so on).

The user interface 610 of the network microphone device 600 may be configured to facilitate user interactions with the network microphone device. In one example, the user interface 608 may include one or more of physical buttons, graphical interfaces provided on touch sensitive screen(s) and/or surface(s), among other possibilities, for a user to directly provide input to the network microphone device 600. The user interface 610 may further include one or more of lights and the speaker(s) 614 to provide visual and/or audio feedback to a user. In one example, the network microphone device 600 may further be configured to playback audio content via the speaker(s) 614.

III. Example System and Method to Provide Contextual Information Corresponding to a Voice Command

In a household in which multiple NMDs are present, contextualizing voice inputs received at a given NMD may enhance a user's experience. Received voice inputs may be received by one or more NMDs and then processed locally or remotely. In one example, a single NMD receives and processes voice inputs (e.g., a particular NMD to which the voice inputs were directed to, and/or the NMD possessing the highest fidelity recording of the voice input; e.g., “Alexa . . . ” or “Siri . . . ”). In another example, multiple NMDs receive and relay the voice inputs for processing to another device or group of devices. The one or more NMDs that receive and drive the actual voice processing are referred to herein as the “processing NMD(s).” Any one of NMDs 512-516, PBDs 532-538, CR 522, or computing device 504-508 may operate as a processing NMD.

In some embodiments, a processing NMD may be an NMD that has no zone awareness. For example, the processing NMD may not be able determine the actual or relative location (e.g., living room, bedroom, corner of a bedroom, etc) where a voice input or command was recorded. In such embodiment, NMDs in the household other than the processing NMD(s) may record, or otherwise be capable of recording, some aspect of a voice input and sending the recording to the processing NMD. The one or more NMD(s) that are not necessarily processing NMD(s) but that nonetheless are capable of recording some aspect of the voice input are referred to herein as “contextual NMD(s).” As further described herein, contextual NMDs may provide contextual information indicating a characteristic of a voice input that may improve the voice input received by processing NMDs.

In other embodiments, a processing NMD may have at least some zone awareness. According to this embodiment, the processing NMD may be a microphone equipped device such as NMDs 512-516, PBDs 532-538, CR 522, or computing device 504-508. The processing NMD may be able to determine the actual or relative location of where a voice input or command was recorded. Additionally, the processing NMD may be capable of receiving voice data from contextual NMDs to further determine the actual or relative location of where a voice input or command was recorded. Example scenarios are further described herein.

In some embodiments, a processing NMD may obtain some zone awareness or contextual information based on its GPS, or WiFi connection. The GPS or WiFi connection may provide an indication to the processing NMD that a user is currently in the household. Accordingly, in response to a command to play music out loud, the processing NMD may receive contextual information corresponding to the zone(s) in which the voice input was recorded and play music in the particular zone(s) (rather than requiring a user to specify the zone location in the spoken command).

Generally, it should be understood that one or more functions described herein may be performed by the processing NMD individually or in combination with the media playback system server or networked microphone system server (e.g., computing devices that are part of the cloud network 502), PBDs 532-538, NMDs 512-516, CR 522, or any other devices described herein.

Example device operations may include operations to modify any of the media playback system controls or playback settings. Playback settings may include, for example, playback volume, playback transport controls, music source selection, and grouping, among other possibilities. Other device operations may include operations to adjust television control or play settings, mobile phone device settings, or illumination devices, among other device operations that may be adjustable or controllable via an NMD.

Implementation 700 shown in FIG. 7 presents an embodiment of example techniques described herein. Implementation 700 that can be implemented within an operating environment including or involving, for example, the media playback system 100 of FIG. 1, one or more playback devices 200 of FIG. 2, one or more control devices 300 of FIG. 3, the user interface of FIG. 4, and/or the configuration shown in FIG. 5. Implementation 700 may include one or more operations, functions, or actions as illustrated by one or more of blocks 702-708. Although the blocks are illustrated in sequential order, these blocks may also be performed in parallel, and/or in a different order than those described herein. Also, the various blocks may be combined into fewer blocks, divided into additional blocks, and/or removed based upon the desired implementation.

In addition, for the implementation 700 and other processes and methods disclosed herein, the flowchart shows functionality and operation of one possible implementation of some embodiments. In this regard, each block may represent a module, a segment, or a portion of program code, which includes one or more instructions executable by a processor for implementing specific logical functions or steps in the process. The program code may be stored on any type of computer readable medium, for example, such as a storage device including a disk or hard drive. The computer readable medium may include non-transitory computer readable medium, for example, such as tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media that stores data for short periods of time like register memory, processor cache and Random Access Memory (RAM). The computer readable medium may also include non-transitory media, such as secondary or persistent long term storage, like read only memory (ROM), optical or magnetic disks, compact-disc read only memory (CD-ROM), for example. The computer readable media may also be any other volatile or non-volatile storage systems. The computer readable medium may be considered a computer readable storage medium, for example, or a tangible storage device. In addition, for the implementation 700 and other processes and methods disclosed herein, each block in FIG. 7 may represent circuitry that is wired to perform the specific logical functions in the process.

a. Receive Voice Data Indicating Voice Command

At block 702, implementation 700 involves receiving voice data indicating a voice command. For instance, a processing NMD, such as NMD 512, receives voice data. In some embodiments, the processing NMD may receive voice data via one or more microphones of the processing NMD. For example, a processing NMD located in or near the living room of a household may record a voice input from a user located in the living room.

In some cases, the processing NMD may receive voice data via a network interface of the processing NMD, perhaps in addition to receiving voice data via a microphone. For example, the processing NMD may communicate and receive voice data from the media playback system server, networked microphone system server, PBDs 532-536, NMDs 512-516, CR 522, or any other devices described herein. In some embodiments, the media playback system server and/or networked microphone system server may be cloud-based server systems (e.g., computing devices that are part of the cloud network 502). The processing NMD may receive voice data indicating a voice command from any one or a combination of these devices and/or servers.

In some embodiments, the processing NMD may receive voice data from one or more contextual NMDs and determine separate time-aligned recordings of the voice data by respective NMDs. In other embodiments, the computing device 506, CR 522, or any other device or server described herein may receive voice data from one or more contextual NMDs, determine separate time-aligned recordings of the voice data by respective NMDs, and then send the time-aligned recordings to the processing NMD. Other examples involving the combination of devices and/or systems described herein are possible.

In some implementations, one or more contextual NMDs may continuously send voice data to the computing device 506, CR 522, or any other device or server described herein. In some embodiments, the voice data may be available locally for the processing NMD to receive voice data. In other embodiments, the voice data may be available remotely via one or more servers described herein.

In other implementations, one or more contextual NMDs may continuously record ambient noise but might only provide its recording to a processing NMD if the given NMD (1) itself is woken up by a “wake-up word” (e.g., “hey Sonos”, “Siri”, “Alexa”, or other voice input), or (2) receives an instruction from another NMD (contextual or processing NMD), device, or system to provide the recording to the processing NMD. In such instances, the voice data following the wake-up word may be provided to the processing NMD via the one or more contextual NMDs. In some embodiments, the one or more contextual NMDs may continuously send voice data following the wake-up word while voice recordings are made via respective microphones of the one or more contextual NMDs. In other embodiments, the one or more contextual NMDs may continuously send voice data following the wake-up word until the one or more contextual NMDs receive instructions from another device or server to stop recording or sending voice data to the processing NMD. Alternatively, the one or more contextual NMDs may provide voice data of a specific duration of time (e.g., the next 10 seconds of voice data following the wake-up word) to the processing NMD.

b. Receive Contextual Information Indicating Characteristic of Voice Command

At block 704, implementation 700 involves receiving contextual information indicating a characteristic of the voice command. For instance, the processing NMD may receive, via a network interface from another NMD, contextual information indicating a characteristic of the voice command. A characteristic of the voice command may include, for example, the actual location of where the voice command was recorded (e.g., the location of the NMD that is recording the voice input), or the volume level (e.g., relative magnitude) of the voice command as perceived by the NMD, which the processing NMD may then use to infer a relative location. The processing NMD may receive such contextual information via a network interface from any one or a combination of the devices and/or servers described herein.

As noted above, contextual information indicating a characteristic of the voice command may facilitate locating a user or a particular device within a household, so as to supplement the voice data recorded by a processing NMD. Benefits of providing contextual information to a processing NMD may be particularly noticeable for processing NMDs that have no zone awareness. By way of example, one or more contextual NMDs located in various living spaces of a household may record a voice input or command to turn off the lights (e.g., “turn off the lights in here”). The processing NMD individually might not know which lights in the household to turn off based on the recorded voice input. One or more contextual NMDs, however, may determine the actual or relative location of where the voice input was recorded, and send contextual information to the processing NMD to assist in determining which lights in a household to turn off.

In some embodiments, a contextual NMD may provide contextual information to a processing NMD that has some zone awareness. One or more contextual NMDs may locally or remotely (via another device or server described herein) store a look-up table that provides additional contextual information associated with a specific room or zone. One or more contextual NMDs may share the look-up table with other devices or servers via a network interface. The information in the look-up table may include specific words or commands that correspond to a specific room, zone, playback device, or any other device coupled to the media playback system via a network interface. In some implementations, one or more contextual NMDs (and/or one or more combinations of devices or servers described herein) may create a look-up table. Additionally, one or more contextual NMDs may modify, add, or subtract specific words or commands in a look-up table.

Within examples, a user may speak a particular voice command (e.g., “turn off the lights in District 12”) that might not provide sufficient context for a processing NMD to perform the particular device operation associated with the voice command. One or more contextual NMDs that recorded the voice command may look-up which room or zone the voice command (e.g., “District 12”) is associated with, determine that it is associated with a particular room and/or zone, and provide such contextual information to the processing NMD.

In some embodiments, a contextual NMD may have multiple microphones to record voice inputs or commands. Utilizing the recordings from multiple microphones, the processing NMD may determine a relative location of the voice command based on the relative magnitude of the respective recordings and a direction in which the voice input was received. Additionally or alternatively, any one of or a combination of the devices or servers described herein may determine the location of the voice command and send data indicative of the location to the processing NMD via the network interface.

The characteristic of the voice command may include data indicating the playback zone that corresponds to the actual or relative location in which the voice command was received. For example, the voice command may be a command to play music in a particular room of a household (e.g., “let's get some music going in here”). The voice command may be recorded by one or more contextual NMDs located in or near the particular room. In some cases, each NMD may be associated with a playback zone of a household (e.g., living room, kitchen, bedroom). The one or more contextual NMDs may provide the processing NMD with contextual information indicating the playback zone that corresponds to the actual or relative location in which the voice command was received. For example, the processing NMD may receive a message indicating that a voice command or input was received from another processing NMD in the living room. In another example, a processing NMD may receive a message indicating that a voice command or input was received from a contextual NMD in the bedroom near the living room at a particular volume level. One or more other contextual NMDs in proximity may also record and provide the processing NMD with contextual information indicating a playback zone.

In another aspect, the contextual information indicating the characteristic of the voice command may vary in level of specificity. For example, multiple NMDs (contextual or processing NMDs) proximate to a user may record voice inputs from the user located in the kitchen. The recordings may be sent to a processing NMD and/or any one or a combination of the devices or servers described herein to determine the actual or relative location of where the voice command or input was received. In one example, a processing NMD may receive an indication or message indicating that the voice command or input received was dominant in a particular living space (e.g., kitchen). In another example, a processing NMD may receive an indication that the voice input received was split (equally, or to some extent) between two contextual NMDs in different living spaces proximate to the user (e.g., the kitchen and the living room). The processing NMD may use such indication to, for example, group playback devices in the different living spaces as a zone scene and play back music within the zone scene. In yet another example, a processing NMD may receive an indication that the voice input received was in a particular zone scene or floor of a house (e.g., first floor).

In a further example, three or more NMDs may triangulate a specific location of the voice input or user based on relative magnitudes of voice input recorded at each respective NMD. The processing NMD may then receive an indication indicating that the voice command or input received was from a particular area within a living space (e.g., corner of a kitchen).

In some embodiments, the contextual information indicating the characteristic of the voice command may infer orientation or direction of the voice input or command relative to an NMD. The NMD as described may have multiple microphones to record the voice inputs or commands. The orientation or direction of the voice input or command may be of particular relevance in determining a device operation corresponding to the voice input or command. For instance, the device operation corresponding to the voice input or command (e.g., “turn off the lights in front of me”) may be associated with the relative direction in which the user is facing.

In some examples, orientation or direction may be determined based on frequency response of the voice inputs or commands. Generally, an NMD that a user is facing while recording a voice input or command may have a larger high-frequency component than an NMD that the user is not facing. In particular, the processing NMD or media playback system server (or any one or a combination of the devices or servers described herein) with (1) knowledge of the frequency responses of the respective microphones and (2) separate time-aligned recordings of the voice inputs by multiple NMDs may normalize the frequency response (e.g., 35 Hz-22.05 kHz) of the respective recordings of the voice inputs with respect to the low frequency band. For instance, the frequency response of the voice inputs recorded from a contextual NMD may be normalized with another contextual NMD with respect to the fundamental frequency band for human voice (e.g., 85-255 Hz). The high-frequency components of the normalized responses of the voice inputs may then be compared to determine the direction in which the user is facing while recording the voice input.

In another example, orientation or direction may be determined by using the variance in the known polar responses of two or more microphones of an NMD. The variance may help determine the angle of the user (or voice input) relative to an NMD, perpendicular to the plane of the two or more microphones. The angle of the user relative to an NMD may help more precisely locate the direction in which the user is facing while recording the voice input and may add an additional level of confidence that the voice input was received from a certain direction or orientation. This may be accomplished by measuring the polar responses of the voice inputs at each microphone simultaneously and matching the variance with the known polar responses.

In other examples, the angle of the user relative to an NMD may be determined by measuring the delay across two or more microphones with a known distance between them. Further examples may include visual imaging, measuring the relative magnitude across two or more microphones or NMDs, Bluetooth proximity detection between an NMD and another computing device, such as a mobile phone, or monitoring WiFi Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) to detect user proximity and/or location.

c. Determine Device Operation Corresponding to Voice Command

At block 706, implementation 700 involves determining a device operation corresponding to the voice command. Determining a device operation may include the processing NMD identifying various groupings (e.g., bonded zones, playback zones, zone scenes among other examples) that correspond to the characteristic of the voice command, and determining that the voice command corresponds to one or more particular devices that are associated with the identified groupings. In some cases, the processing NMD may independently determine the device operation corresponding to the voice command. Alternatively, any one or a combination of the devices or servers described herein may determine the device operation corresponding to the voice command. For example, a processing NMD (e.g., NMD 512) may send a request to computing device 506 or contextual NMDs to determine the device operation corresponding to the voice command.

In some examples, identifying various groupings that correspond to the characteristic of the voice command may include the processing NMD sending a request for an indication of the bonded playback devices and/or playback zone(s) that detected the voice command. The request may be sent via the network interface from any one or a combination of the devices and/or servers described herein. For example, each PBD may be in a particular zone, such as the living room, bathroom, or bedroom of a household. The processing NMD may send a request to one or more of the PBDs (or contextual NMDs) to identify the playback zone and location of the each PBD that recorded the voice input or command. Alternatively, the processing NMD may send a request to computing device 506 which may have received the recorded voice inputs from the PBDs (or contextual NMDs) and determined time-aligned recordings for respective PBDs.

In some cases, the processing NMD may be an NMD that might not have any zone awareness. The processing NMD may receive a voice input or command to play music in a particular location (e.g., “play some music in here”). The processing NMD may then send a request to the contextual NMDs (or PBDs configured as NMDs) that recorded the voice inputs. The contextual NMDs which are associated with a particular zone (e.g., living room, kitchen) may then send contextual information indicating the zone in which the user recorded the voice input, so as to indicate to the processing NMD the location corresponding to “here.”

In other cases, the processing NMD has some zone awareness. In such cases, the processing NMD may individually determine the particular zone in which the user recorded the voice input. Additionally, the processing NMD may send a request to other contextual NMDs that may have recorded the voice input or command in other zones.

In some embodiments, determining that the voice command corresponds to one or more particular devices that are associated with the identified zone may further include determining that the voice command is a playback command corresponding to one or more playback devices in the identified zone. For example, the processing NMD may independently, concurrently, and/or sequentially determine that the recorded voice input is a voice command to play music in a particular location (e.g., Siri, play some music in here). As described previously, the contextual NMDs may provide the missing contextual information corresponding to the zones in which the voice input was recorded or help supplement the processing NMD by providing contextual information corresponding to additional zones in which the voice input was recorded.

In other embodiments, determining that the voice command corresponds to one or more particular devices that are associated with identified zone may include determining that the voice command is a command to control the one or more particular devices. For example, the voice command may be a command to turn off the lights in a particular location (e.g., “turn off the lights”). The processing NMD may receive contextual information corresponding to the zone or location in which the voice input was recorded in order to determine which lights in a household to turn off. Other examples are possible.

d. Causing One or More Particular Devices to Perform Device Operation

At block 708, implementation 700 involves causing one or more particular devices to perform the device operation. For example, the processing NMD may receive a voice command to play music in a particular location (e.g., “play some music here”). After identifying the location or zones in which the voice input was recorded, the processing NMD may cause one or more playback devices in the location or zones to play music. In particular, after receiving contextual information from one or more contextual NMDs (or PBDs configured as NMDs) that the voice input to play music was recorded from the living room and kitchen, the processing NMD may cause the PBDs in the living room and kitchen to play music.

In another example, the processing NMD may receive a voice command to turn on the lights in a particular room (e.g., “turn on the lights”). After receiving contextual information indicating that the voice input to turn on the lights was recorded in the bedroom, the processing NMD may cause one or more illumination devices in the bedroom to turn on.

In some embodiments, after identifying all the zones in which the voice input was recorded, the processing NMD may cause one or more particular devices in only some or one of the zones in which the recorded voice input was dominant (e.g., highest volume level). For example, the processing NMD may receive contextual information that the voice input was recorded from the kitchen, bedroom, and the living room. The processing NMD may individually or in combination with other devices, such as computing device 506, may determine that the relative magnitude of the recorded voice input was dominant in the living room. Accordingly, the processing NMD may cause one or more particular devices (e.g., illumination devices or PBDs 532-536) in the living room to perform the device operation corresponding to the voice command.

Any one or a combination of the devices or servers described herein may cause one or more particular device to perform the device operation, which as noted above may be facilitated by one or more networks connecting the devices (e.g., connection means 546). For example, the processing NMD may send a request to computing device 506 (or another processing NMD) to determine a device operation corresponding to a voice command. The computing device may then determine the device operation and cause one or more particular devices to perform the device operation. The computing device 506 may send the determined device operation directly to the one or more particular devices (e.g., PBDs 532-536) via the network interface. Alternatively, the computing device 506 may send the determined device operation to one or more processing NMDs to cause one or more particular devices to perform the device operation.

IV. Conclusion

The description above discloses, among other things, various example systems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture including, among other components, firmware and/or software executed on hardware. It is understood that such examples are merely illustrative and should not be considered as limiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of the firmware, hardware, and/or software aspects or components can be embodied exclusively in hardware, exclusively in software, exclusively in firmware, or in any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Accordingly, the examples provided are not the only way(s) to implement such systems, methods, apparatus, and/or articles of manufacture.

Additionally, references herein to “embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one example embodiment of an invention. The appearances of this phrase in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. As such, the embodiments described herein, explicitly and implicitly understood by one skilled in the art, can be combined with other embodiments.

The specification is presented largely in terms of illustrative environments, systems, procedures, steps, logic blocks, processing, and other symbolic representations that directly or indirectly resemble the operations of data processing devices coupled to networks. These process descriptions and representations are typically used by those skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it is understood to those skilled in the art that certain embodiments of the present disclosure can be practiced without certain, specific details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and circuitry have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspects of the embodiments. Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims rather than the forgoing description of embodiments.

When any of the appended claims are read to cover a purely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one of the elements in at least one example is hereby expressly defined to include a tangible, non-transitory medium such as a memory, DVD, CD, Blu-ray, and so on, storing the software and/or firmware. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method to be performed by a first network microphone device (NMD) associated with a first playback device, the method comprising: detecting, via one or more microphones, voice data representing a voice input; receiving, via a network interface from a second NMD associated with one or more second playback devices, contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD; determining a playback operation corresponding to the voice input, wherein determining the playback operation corresponding to the voice input comprises: determining, based on the contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD, that the one or more second playback devices are implicit targets of the playback operation; based on the determining, forming a synchrony group including the first playback device and the one or more second playback devices; and causing the synchrony group to carry out the determined playback operation, wherein carrying out the playback operation comprises the first playback device and the one or more second playback devices playing back audio content in synchrony.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics of the voice input comprise sound pressure levels of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD, and wherein determining, based on the contextual data, that the one or more second playback devices are implicit targets of the playback operation comprises determining that the sound pressure levels indicate that the voice input was uttered in proximity to the second NMD.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, via the network interface from a third NMD associated with one or more third playback devices, contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD, wherein determining the playback operation corresponding to the voice input further comprises: determining, based on the contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the third NMD, that the one or more third playback devices are not implicit targets of the playback operation, wherein the one or more third devices are excluded from the synchrony group based on the determining.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first playback device comprises the first NMD, and wherein the method further comprises: playing back the audio content in synchrony with the one or more second playback devices.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular second playback device of the one or more second playback devices comprises the second NMD.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the playback operation corresponding to the voice input comprises determining that the voice input excludes explicit targets of the playback operation.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, based on data in the data storage, that the one or more second playback devices are associated with the second NMD.
 8. A first network microphone device (NMD) associated with a first playback device, the first NMD comprising: one or more microphones; a network interface; one or more processors; data storage having instructions stored therein, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first playback device to perform functions comprising: detecting, via the one or more microphones, voice data representing a voice input; receiving, via the network interface from a second NMD associated with one or more second playback devices, contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD; determining a playback operation corresponding to the voice input, wherein determining the playback operation corresponding to the voice input comprises: determining, based on the contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD, that the one or more second playback devices are implicit targets of the playback operation; based on the determining, forming a synchrony group including the first playback device and the one or more second playback devices; and causing the synchrony group to carry out the determined playback operation, wherein carrying out the playback operation comprises the first playback device and the one or more second playback devices playing back audio content in synchrony.
 9. The first NMD of claim 8, wherein the characteristics of the voice input comprise sound pressure levels of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD, and wherein determining, based on the contextual data, that the one or more second playback devices are implicit targets of the playback operation comprises determining that the sound pressure levels indicate that the voice input was uttered in proximity to the second NMD.
 10. The first NMD of claim 8, wherein the functions further comprise: receiving, via the network interface from a third NMD associated with one or more third playback devices, contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD, wherein determining the playback operation corresponding to the voice input further comprises: determining, based on the contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the third NMD, that the one or more third playback devices are not implicit targets of the playback operation, wherein the one or more third devices are excluded from the synchrony group based on the determining.
 11. The first NMD of claim 8, wherein the first playback device comprises the first NMD, and wherein the functions further comprise: playing back the audio content in synchrony with the one or more second playback devices.
 12. The first NMD of claim 8, wherein a particular second playback device of the one or more second playback devices comprises the second NMD.
 13. The first NMD of claim 8, wherein determining the playback operation corresponding to the voice input comprises determining that the voice input excludes explicit targets of the playback operation.
 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, based on data in the data storage, that the one or more second playback devices are associated with the second NMD.
 15. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media having instructions encoded therein, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause a first network microphone device (NMD) to perform functions comprising detecting, via one or more microphones, voice data representing a voice input; receiving, via a network interface from a second NMD associated with one or more second playback devices, contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD; determining a playback operation corresponding to the voice input, wherein determining the playback operation corresponding to the voice input comprises: determining, based on the contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD, that the one or more second playback devices are implicit targets of the playback operation; based on the determining, forming a synchrony group including (i) a first playback device associated with the first NMD and the (ii) one or more second playback devices; and causing the synchrony group to carry out the determined playback operation, wherein carrying out the playback operation comprises the first playback device and the one or more second playback devices playing back audio content in synchrony.
 16. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the characteristics of the voice input comprise sound pressure levels of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD, and wherein determining, based on the contextual data, that the one or more second playback devices are implicit targets of the playback operation comprises determining that the sound pressure levels indicate that the voice input was uttered in proximity to the second NMD.
 17. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the functions further comprise: receiving, via the network interface from a third NMD associated with one or more third playback devices, contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the second NMD, wherein determining the playback operation corresponding to the voice input further comprises: determining, based on the contextual data indicating characteristics of the voice input as detected by one or more microphones of the third NMD, that the one or more third playback devices are not implicit targets of the playback operation, wherein the one or more third devices are excluded from the synchrony group based on the determining.
 18. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the first playback device comprises the first NMD, and wherein the functions further comprise: playing back the audio content in synchrony with the one or more second playback devices.
 19. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein a particular second playback device of the one or more second playback devices comprises the second NMD.
 20. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein determining the playback operation corresponding to the voice input comprises determining that the voice input excludes explicit targets of the playback operation. 